China Deports U.S. ‘Spy’ After Two Years in Custody

China has deported a U.S. citizen accused of espionage after her conviction earlier this week. Sandy Phan-Gillis, a Houston-based businesswoman with Chinese origins, reportedly arrived in Los Angeles on Friday after more than two years behind bars. Her return comes after a Chinese court convicted her of spying on Tuesday, sentencing her to three and-a-half years’ imprisonment and ordering her deportation. Chinese authorities also accused her of helping the FBI to track down two Chinese spies in the U.S. before turning them into double agents. “Sandy is overjoyed to be reunited with friends and family, and sends out her thanks to the many people who worked tirelessly for her release,” her husband, Jeff Gillis, was cited as saying by the BBC. Phan-Gillis was arrested in March 2015 while on a business trip in China, in a case widely condemned by international human rights groups. Chinese authorities had accused Phan-Gillis of conducting espionage in the country on two separate trips in 1996, allegations which her husband called “beyond ridiculous.” He said her passport proves that she wasn’t even in China at the time of the alleged crimes. Apart from behind held without a trial, she was also reportedly kept in a secret location for six months before being placed in solitary confinement.